Spire vs Thrawn: Duel in the Void
by MirkaelConrad
Summary: A Solar Admiral from a grim dark galaxy, a hero who has withstood against The Despoiler and won... A Grand Admiral from a galaxy far, far away, a strategic genius in service to a corrupt and scheming despot... These two legends will collide as the very two galaxies clash in a war of epic proportions. One will discover salvation, and the other will know only war...
1. PROLOGUE

**176.M41 - a decade since after the Gothic War**

Spire sat opposite of the captured commander in the cold interrogation room. A steel table divided them.

Darkness enveloped the commander, concealing his form completely aside from two glaring red eyes Spire dismissed as bionics. Cigarette fumed from his nostrils and a bottle of Amasec was held in his hand.

'Your tobacco and alcohol are much like your people,' remarked the interrogatee. 'Unsubtle and utilitarian. Reflecting your Imperium's predilections for hardships and bluntness.'

Spire couldn't refrain from glancing at the captured officer's glaring red eyes, it was more flesh than machine.

'You led the unexpected ambush at my reserve fleet.' claimed Spire. 'Victory was almost near me had you not intervened.'

'Indeed,' replied the captured officer, the darkness hiding his smile. 'You were slaughtering my fleet like tender lambs in the void. Despite being outnumbered 10 to 1, your broadside cannons and lasers gutted them. I had never encountered such fury nor savagery that your Imperium displayed before.'

A frown depressed Spire's eyebrows. 'You expected me to be leading the charge.'

'That I did.' replied the captured officer, nonchalantly inspecting the cigarette given to him. 'But I never expected that you would respond so quickly. I mistook you to be a brazen fool, hungry for glory. I thought you were much like the previous captains whose own hubris undermined ships more powerful than ours. But you adapted, mounted a counterattack against my ambush and my flagship took the brunt of your battleship's torpedoes. Its destruction made my fleet lose heart and withdraw, earning you your victory.'

The captured officer stopped for a moment as his lungs inhaled another smoke from his cigarette. Plumes of it emerged from his nose. Coupled with his fiery red eyes, he bore an uncomfortable appearance of a daemon.

'Once I thought the Imperium were dogmatic, ignorant fanatics. Now, I knew them to be dogmatic, clever fanatics. Having people like you is the reason that it has survived for 10 millennia.'

The officer shot a piercing look towards Spire, he was certain that it looked more like an actual pair of eyes than bionics.

_Perhaps their bionics are a lot more concealed and elegant than ours, _Spire thought.

'You never underestimated me, did you?' asked the interrogatee, staring at Spire with his whole outline leaning towards him. But not closer enough to reveal his form.

_Like a prowling predator this man is_, reflected Spire, _calm and collected_.

Spire cleared his scarred throat. ' I've weathered too much horrors of my home to underestimate things.'

'You came here for information on my empire's dispositions of its forces,' the commander asked further, red eyes kicking back in a relaxed state.

'I want more than just intelligence,' exclaimed Spire, hands spread across the hard table. 'Tell me more about this galaxy's humans, its xenos natives and most of all, if there are other powers squabbling with the Galactic Empire.'

'Granted,' obliged the captive officer as he took a swig of the Amasec's bottle. 'Where do you want to start?'

Spire's eyes narrowed, like a blade focused on someone's heart. 'Tell me your name.'

The captive commander leaned closer to Spire again, much closer this time that he could see the man's full physical form. Red eyes, black hair and blue skin. He... it looked like a man, but it was no man.

_Xenos_, Spire observed. Teeth grinding in anger.

'Thrawn,' the alien answered, coldly smiling. 'Grand Admiral Thrawn.'


	2. The Construct in the Void

**170.M41 - At the New Galaxy...**

The vast cosmic construct lay hanging in the endless night of the void. Dead. Cleaved in twain. A mighty weapon no more.

Spire was impressed by these humans' capability in constructing something wondrous and immense as this machine. Even the Mechanicus would drool over this miracle of a technology. Its FTL needs no Warp to traverse the Galaxy, save for accurate maps and even more accurate cogitator calculations. It could house dozens of regiments, store years' worth of supplies and tend to fleets alone. The construct had a massive potential in changing the outcomes of the Imperium's many deadlocked campaigns.

What he did not understand rather, was the idiotic purpose it was designed for.

Captured enemies claimed that it was made to keep its subjects in line. To make known the strength of their "Empire". It destroyed planets to make a point.

_What a waste_, mused Spire.

Mechanicus savants estimated that for this machine's scale, it would bankrupt its entire government and starve whole system populations just to manufacture it. Moreover, the fact that the Tech Priests analysed that these humans can eradicate planets through their ships' conventional bombardment, just like the Navy's own way of Exterminatus, just adds up to the wasteful inefficiency this "Empire" made in crafting this weapon.

Spire frowned, not even the Munitorum could squander resources as mindlessly as this.

There never was a showdown between this construct and his Retribution-class Flagship Bloodhawk. Spire hoped it would be like duelling The Blackstone Fortresses or even Abaddon's own Planet Killer. Subsequent scans exposed a large Achilles' Heel on one of its sides. A single bombing run of Starhawks supported by Furies to ward off their miniscule fighters was enough for the task.

Spire's disappointed eyes fixed itself on this ruined device. They gave it a curiously intimidating name that sounded more like a propaganda tool than an actual military asset.

The Death Star.


End file.
